Three major construction and infrastructure companies have agreed to participate in the Industrial Safetytech Regulatory Sandbox, the world’s first regulatory sandbox for industrial safetytech.

Balfour Beatty, BAM Nuttall and Heathrow Airport will explore new opportunities to improve safety and risk management with Discovering Safety, a programme of work delivered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s health and safety regulator, and Safetytech Accelerator, a technology accelerator dedicated to advancing safetytech in industry.

They will be joined by UK-based technology companies with products and services designed to improve safety and risk management in industrial workplaces. Safetytech Accelerator started recruiting technology participants for the sandbox in February.

The sandbox aims to explore ways to undertake assessment and compliance activities more effectively, to help accelerate the adoption of proven safetytech products in industry, and to understand and reduce barriers that might delay the development of new life-saving technologies. It will focus initially on innovation around significant areas of risk in construction, including falls from height, vehicle collisions, crane operations and manual handling.

Andrew Rippington, Health and Safety Lead in BAM Nuttall’s Safety Department, comments:“We find this project really interesting and welcome the chance to support innovators with real-world experiences that will inform the sandbox and keep solutions useable. We’re keen to identify challenges and also identify areas where we can enhance.”

Roly Latif Head of Health, Safety and Wellbeing for Heathrow Infrastructure, comments: “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to work with experts and encourage knowledge sharing and innovation. Supporting experts in developing technology-led solutions that solve old and new problems could change the risk profile of future Infrastructure projects.”

Dr Helen Balmforth, Head of Data Analytics at Health and Safety Executive and lead on Discovering Safety, comments: “We are delighted that Balfour Beatty, Costain, BAM Nuttall and Heathrow Airport will be part of the sandbox. They will provide valuable insight to help us understand and reduce barriers that might delay the development and deployment of new life-saving technologies.”

Dr Maurizio Pilu, Managing Director at Safetytech Accelerator, comments: “Industrial partners are vital for exploring how new technologies such as AI, analytics, wearables, drones and robotics improve safety and risk management. We are excited about partnering with these companies for the sandbox and, hopefully, helping industrial safetytech innovations through to wider adoption in the construction industry and beyond. ”